I’m so pleased to have Kathleen L. Maher as a guest on JoyRossDavis.com for this holiday season. We’ve had the pleasure of being a part of Murray Pura’s Cry of Freedom series about the American Civil War. Kathleen’s early contribution, Bachelor Buttons bachelor_buttons

Enjoy the moving article that Kathy has written for you to contemplate as we close this year of Civil War commemoration.

She’s generously offered a gift copy of her book to a commenter at this page. We have WINNERS! Kathleen has gifted copies of her story to two commenters: Leann Mooneyham and Kathleen Rodgers. Congratulations to the winners and enormous thank yous to everyone who read, commented and enjoyed this post.

How the South won this New York Yankee

by Kathleen L. Maher

The Civil War is still alive—at least in this girl’s heart. I grew up in the rolling farmland of upstate New York, far from the sultry southern battlefields and legendary haunts of Stonewall Jackson and Robert E. Lee. And yet, places like the Shenandoah Valley, Charleston, and Natchez beckon to me. Spanish Moss swinging from the spreading branches of live oaks, camellias growing off the veranda of a plantation, and the triple beat of a Confederate cavalier’s charge, all stirs my heart.

How did this come to be, so far removed as I am from all of that romance and history? Well, I have a little secret. It is buried here. Quite literally. Elmira, New York, where I live, is the resting place of over 2000 Confederate Prisoners of War. They came here on prisoner transports via the Baltimore, Williamsport and Elmira Railroad, and died in Camp Chemung, which boasted the worst conditions on either side of the war. Some say Elmira was a purposeful political retaliation for the notorious Southern prison, Andersonville. Some say it was ill-equipped to handle the sheer numbers of POW’s after Lincoln’s Secretary of War Cameron put an end to prison exchange. But the fact remains that a full 24% of the ten thousand Southerners imprisoned here perished—of disease, starvation, freezing temperatures, and putrid wells.

I’m not one to believe in ghosts. But there is something about the cry of injustice, rather like a curse, that swells up from history like this. It cries for retelling. It cries for the redemption only God—who is not bound by space or time—can bring. So I tell the stories of the men and women who lived, bled, fought and died in the war. The starry-eyed lovers, the brave soldiers, the stoic nurses, the idealistic crusaders. They take shape in my imagination, and I pay homage to those who lie beneath Elmira’s cold turf at Woodlawn National Cemetery. And I bid their final resting place be a peaceful one.

Kathleen L. Maher is represented by Terry Burns of Hartline Literary. She blogs about Upstate NY history athttp://kathleenlmaher.blogspot.com/ and incorporates her love for all things antique and romantic in her stories. A member of American Christian Fiction Writers since 2008, Kathleen won their Genesis contest in 2012. Her Civil War novella Bachelor Buttons released in May 2013 and is available on Amazon, B&N and Kobo.
Connect with her on
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mahereenie
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Mahereenie
Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/kathleenlmaher/boards/

Janice Dick has woven the threads of a life-long love of books into a beautiful plaid of historical fiction, devotional collections, inspirational articles and mentoring workshops for other writers, deeply fringed by a flow of reviewing and editing. I enjoy her elegant, descriptive style and am so pleased that she is a part of the author community at Helping Hands Press. I was honored to be included in a blog tour at Janice’s blog “Janice L. Dick | A Writer’s Life” earlier in December, 2013.

Janice has presented a writing lesson for readers for her appearance on the JoyRossDavis.com blog tour. Your questions about GENRE are addressed in the following article.

FICTION WRITING — GENRE

The word is pronounced john-ra or zhon-ra , and it simply means kind or variety. In our case, it refers to the kinds of stories we read and write.
Here are some basic genres and examples of each:

Each of these genres can be broken up into sub-genres, with new off-shoots developing daily. See the following link for more:http://www.cuebon.com/ewriters/genres.html .

What’s your genre? The key question is usually: what kinds of stories do you most like to read? I say usually, because I love reading mysteries, but I haven’t published one…yet. I also love reading historical fiction, and the more I read, the more I learn about how it’s done.

Based on your favorite genres of fiction, which would you most like to write? Why? I like Historical Fiction because it reminds me that every historical figure I write about has actually lived and died, loved and hated, succeeded and failed. When I create fictional characters in my historicals, it is with the hope that they will become as real as their historical counterparts.

Of course, there’s always genre help on the web. Here’s one site of many to check out: http://fictionwriting.about.com/od/genrefiction/a/How-To-Choose-A-Genre-For-Your-Novels.htm

The conundrum with genre selection is whether to write from the heart or for sales stats. The answer depends on our goals. If our number one objective is to sell our story, then we must research and write what’s selling. We can still be creative when we write for the market, but we must make sure we’re okay with it.

Personally, I need to write from the heart, whether it sells immediately or not. Pair that with the premise of Kevin Costner’s movie, Field of Dreams: “Build it and he will come.” Write it, and the readers will come, so we hope and pray. We must make the choice.

For the Christian writer, published or not, the choice of genre is important. If we plan to build a platform (the genre and style of writing that people think of when they recognize our names, also referred to as our brand), we will need to concentrate on writing in one genre until we are known by our readers.

Built in two distinct phases in two different centuries by two people from opposite cultures—Irish and English—Parke’s Castle is a magnificent example of lifestyle and architecture. Once a stronghold for the ruling Gaelic family of the O’Rourkes, it stood on the existing site in the 16th century, its large tower house a symbol of strength and power.

As ruler of Briefne, Brian O’Rourke once sheltered a shipwrecked Spanish Armada officer, Francisco de Cuella and his crew for several months, sharing the family’s top floor kitchen and sleeping areas. O’Rourke, though, was eventually summoned by Queen Elizabeth 1 and charged with high treason for harbouring the enemy. He was summarily executed, hanged not by a rope, but at his request, by a twig.

According to the Annals of the Four Masters, his death was “one of the mournful stories of the Irish for no one excelled O’Rourke in hospitality, giving rewards, in troops, in comeliness, and in battle.” O’Rourke’s hospitality lives on in the Irish tradition because of a sumptuous banquet he held every year in Dromahair. It became legendary through an Irish poem of the 1700s and was put to music by blind harpist, O’Carolan, then finally immortalized by Jonathan Swift.

After O’Rourke’s death, his land and holdings were confiscated and redistributed during the Plantation of Ulster. New owner Robert Parke, a member of English Parliament, claimed title to the castle and grounds, immediately fortifying the outside protective bawns. During his years, structural changes altered the face of the original castle. The Round Tower was demolished but the walled enclosure was made even stronger (to keep out the fiercely angry Irish). Parke probably demolished the round tower because the stones provided a ready made quarry for his own building purposes. A manor house built with attached gatehouse formed the domestic quarters. Two Scottish-style turrets were built and positioned overlooking the famous Lough Gill and nearby Isle of Innisfree.

The entrance to Parke’s Castle is located in a three-story gatehouse built of limestone with cut stone mullioned windows on the upper floors and a diamond shaped chimney that forms a noticeable silhouette when seen from the road.

In 1980, archaeological evidence revealed the foundation of Parke’s Castle which stood wihint the enclosure and included a Blacksmith’s Forge, a Sally Port (for quick escape to the lake below), and a sweathouse. Recovered artefacts include pottery, mugs, bowls, hairpins and a pewter maidenhead spoon. But perhaps the greatest finds were the discoveries of the cobbled courtyard of Brian O’Rourke’s original Round Tower house and the remains of the bawn walls.

Today, Parke’s Manor House has been restored to its original state in immaculate detail. Knowledgeable tour guides tell the stories of the twos: two men, two structures, two cultures. An artfully rendered three-dimensional scene behind glass renders the likenesses of the Parke family going about everyday living. It is a stunning testament to the historical accuracy, fine attention to detail, and labor-intensive preservation of the noted Parke Castle.

Touring this gem is like taking a step back in time in a finely crafted, historically accurate slice of life from two separate centuries. A Must See.

In Bellcoo, down a narrow road marked only with an old high cross, lies the ancient site of St. Patrick’s Well. Steeped in legend, the holy well of Patrick is not a well at all but a wide stream surrounded by stones, a stream which bubbles with what is said to be the coldest water in Ireland.

In ancient times, wells offered not only crystal drinking water but also a threshold from the earthly plane to that of the Otherworld. This particular well, according to legend, was the domain of Crom Dubh, a dark god of harvests, merry-making, and human sacrifice. When St. Patrick wandered onto the site, he immediately threw a large staff which struck the pagan’s altar and demolished it, leaving behind only remnants—pieces of stone which still stand today. Patrick expelled Crom Dubh from the territory and thereby proclaimed it a holy Christian site.

Now protected by a rickety wooden fence with a small gated area, the Holy Well thunders with both the force of 600 gallons of water a minute and the occasional footsteps of hundreds of Christian pilgrims trudging through the waters to pray at its stations and receive healing. Miracles happen here, or so the legend goes. Personal accounts of cures for stomach ailments and nervous disorders abound .

Early Celtic celebrants trudged through the waters for a different reason. Their footfalls in the freezing waters and prayers sung through the night honoured the sun god Lugh, the hero of the original—and most powerful—ruling tribe of Ireland, the T’uatha De Danaan. The festival, known as Lughnasa, is held at holy sites on the first day of August, the beginning of the harvest. With feasting, praying, and dancing, the pagan tradition of Lughnasa thrived for centuries but was ultimately replaced with the Christian title, “Stations at the Holy Well.”

Just across the street from the well lie the ruins of the 10th century Templerushin Church a standing symbol of the triumph of Christianity over Celtic paganism.

Yet…St. Patrick’s Well, named originally in Irish as Dabhach Phadraig, in all its natural beauty of crystal rushing waters and ancient marking stones, remains a mystery. The name “dabach” means “vat,” a word symbolizing the endless generosity of the mother earth goddess.

This well is, indeed, a place of magic, a sacred place where, if one listens closely enough, echoes of the songs of the ancients rise from the bubbling waters spilling over time-worn stones.

All through 2013, I was blessed and fortunate to have Murray Pura as a writing and Christian friend with whom I’ve been honored to join in his story collections published by Helping Hands Press — Murray Pura’s Cry of Freedom American Civil War series and Blue Heaven Romance series.

An excellent author who has appeal across many age groups and who gives his readers elegant books that are not boring or difficult to read, I’m so pleased to have Murray as the featured author for January. His guest post will give you inspiration to apply throughout 2014. By the way, I highly recommend his books for your 2014 reading pleasure, if Murray is a new author to you.

Murray lives and writes in beautiful Alberta, Canada and frequently features Amish topics, interspersed with Old West stories and tales from the British Isles. His historical fiction covers time from ancient days until the 20th Century.

Murray Pura says:

“A Touched Life

When I do research for historical fiction one of the first things that strikes me is how much everyone has suffered down through the ages. That we no sooner cure the world’s ills – like leprosy or TB or polio or the Black Death – only to have other ills take their place – lung cancer, obesity, dementia – or see the old ills return with a vengeance. Wars have not lessened, or rape, or violent crimes, or the death of children by the dozens, the hundreds, and the millions. Always leaving in their wake those who experience the loss and who grieve. And many who find the strength to get up and keep going and not only keep going but do great things, important things, powerful things, things that bless.

Not everyone can get up again and do that. For some the suffering is so great they simply shut down. They may go through the motions for the next 10 or 20 or 30 years but they’re not really there anymore. They expect nothing, hope for nothing, believe in nothing. Life is over.

For others, most I would guess, the energy returns, the focus returns, they carry on with their lives, even if they still bleed a little inside every day for the rest of their lives. They do good things for their family and friends, even for strangers, do good work at the office or store or company, and are good and kind to their neighbors.

Then there is the touched life, the truly touched life. I find them in my research now and then. I see them in the world around me now and then. People whose hearts and souls have been absolutely flattened, who have lost pretty much all there is to lose without losing their own lives, people you’d expect to lie down and never get up again or to wander off and never be seen again. Yet somehow a miracle happens – not only do they recover, not only do they get back to blessing family and friends and neighbors, they go farther than they ever have before because of what they’ve suffered, not in spite of it. They turn their suffering into heroic acts, they turn it into enormous courage, they create great films, great books, great music, great legislation, great inventions. They will tell you their suffering showed them the way, opened the door, motivated them, inspired them, challenged them, fired them up to change a broken world.

It is always moving and astounding when I uncover these lives. Sometimes their stories are well-known, other times no one has ever heard of them before. It doesn’t matter because once a decent writer gets their hands on the material they can give the story to the world and by so doing breathe new life into millions.

I call it a touched life. A miraculous life. Touched by God and angels even if some of them might not believe in God and angels. To overcome suffering and loss and devastation is one thing. To become much more than you ever were before, to be made anew and made better by that suffering and loss and devastation is something else again. I wish for more such lives for the world around us. The suffering will always be there. I pray the touched lives may always be there as well.”